BRITISH Muslim leaders yesterday spoke out in the wake of the Madrid bombings and the police operation to foil an al-Qaeda attack in Britain, insisting that it was the responsibility of everyone in their communities to help to thwart terrorist activities. They seized the initiative in an attempt to forestall any backlash against the Muslim community, stressing that they had already been active in supporting the police and the security services in their campaign against terrorists believed to be at large in Britain.
An emergency meeting last Friday of the national leadership of the Muslim Council agreed to appeal to the two million-strong Muslim population by way of a letter to imams, chairmen and secretaries of the country’s mosques. But Inayat Bunglawala, from the Muslim Council, was keen to stress that Muslim leaders had already been working with police before Monday’s raids. "We co-operate fully with the police. If there was a burglary or a murder we knew about, we would be expected to inform the police, and similarly when it comes to terror or suspected terror or people who are engaged in terror, the Muslim community has been very forthcoming indeed. If someone is involved in criminal activity it is the duty of all Muslims and non-Muslims to let the police know and let them decide whether there is a real danger or not."
He said ordinary law-abiding Muslims were frustrated by the attention focused on a small minority. "There is exasperation at these groups, that they have managed to monopolise almost all coverage of Islam to the detriment of ordinary Muslims," he said. "We have laws in this country, and if people are engaged in wrongdoing then the police arrest them and charge them. There is no sympathy for anyone engaged in that kind of activity. I have no doubt that the Muslim community will co-operate if they believe an act of terror is being planned or designed." But he said the government also had a responsibility not to engage in policies which would breed terrorists. "We were very vocal opponents of the war in Iraq, we believed that the Iraq war would make our security worse, and some humility would be welcome from our politicians to recognise the mistakes they made," he said.
Muhammed Tufail Shaheen, the president of Glasgow Central Mosque, said it was up to the parents of young Muslims to exert influence over their children, and he said anyone who suspected that a member of the community was involved in terrorist activity should tip off the police. "If there is any rogue or criminal, or they are doing harm to society, or doing something ugly like this we have to support the police," he said. He added that the mosque dealt with the police on a regular basis. "In every community you will see some people go bad, but if there are any boys who are influenced by somebody, then the parents will be now told to take extra care. We have to make sure this does not happen here." If a boy was away from his home and his parents did not know the reasons why, they should find out where he had been and who he was with," Mr Shaheen said. "Our message to everybody is to make sure the boys and girls are properly controlled. If there is any doubt, people will say to the police, ‘Check this man, he is not right’. That is what we should be doing."
Meanwhile, Austria’s foreign ministry distanced itself from an article on its website describing Muslims as generally violent and united in seeking the overthrow of Western society. |